Last night, I noticed for the first time the copyright screen on George Foreman's KO Boxing and saw that it said, "Programmed by Sims Co., Ltd." Can I assume then that James "Buster" Douglas Knockout Boxing and Heavyweight Champ were also done by them?

Hmmm...Nonchan S. Kawa would imply that Nonchan and Kawa are the same, but the credits for James "Buster" Douglas Knockout Boxing/Heavyweight Champ list them separately. Aerial Assualt credits Tommy and Kou Arai, but Alien Storm credits Tommy Arai.

I remember the credits in Aerial Assault simply saying "Ippo," which would refer to Izuho Takeuchi, who I thought was a Sega employee. Maybe he was a freelancer...

That "All Members" credit is another tipoff Aerial Assault was a SIMS game. It was also used in James "Buster" Douglas Knockout Boxing/Heavyweight Champ/George Foreman's KO Boxing. The moniker is also used in Alien Storm.

Nishino is also credited with George Foreman's KO Boxing, which we know was done by SIMS. Nasubi is also credited with Scratch Golf (which we know was done by SIMS), Air Rescue, and Master of Darkness. Fumi is credited with Master of Darkness, Air Rescue, and Ninja Gaiden. SIMS did the Genesis/Mega Drive incarnations of Tecmo World Cup, but none of the people on the SMS version worked on those (well, at least TWC '92).

Group 3
These games show similarities to each other, but show less similarities with Groups 1 and 2. It has been established these games use the same sound engine.

Double Hawk
Cloud Master

It has been established that Double Hawk shares staff members with games in Group 2.

For the most part, the groups fall in line with the staff members who worked on it. But it may not be enough to draw an accurate conclusion, unless someone would like to give some sort of...I don't know...input here. Unless we can get confirmation from SIMS themselves, it seems we never know 100%.

What "gums up the works" is the Game gear games Sanritsu and SIMS did in fact produce:

My CloneSpy analysis might help you in your quest for evidence, although it's easy to find plenty of false positives.

Beware that the first 100 bytes or so of almost every SMS/GG rom will look pretty similar, and we don't know how much code Sega gave to developers which they'd re-use.

lCEknight

Guest

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 11:14 pm

Hmmm... I already suspected Asterix was related to Land of Illusion, but it's kinda strange Castle of illusion isn't included as another clone. I wasn't surprised to see Coca Cola Kid as a Sonic Chaos/Sonic Triple Trouble clone, either. =|

Anyway, can you please upload those versions of CloneSpy and ListSpy somewhere? I can't seem to find them anywhere, and the old versions don't want to work on my computer...

My CloneSpy analysis might help you in your quest for evidence, although it's easy to find plenty of false positives.

Beware that the first 100 bytes or so of almost every SMS/GG rom will look pretty similar, and we don't know how much code Sega gave to developers which they'd re-use.

Not a big help, but thank you. Buster Douglas, Heavyweight Champ, and George Foreman are grouped together. Air Rescue is grouped with Aladdin (and looking at it, it may be another SIMS game). Line of Fire is grouped with Dynamite Duke. Ninja Gaiden and Master of Darkness are grouped with a bunch of Sega games. Slap Shot and Tennis Ace are grouped together. E-SWAT, Assault City, and Wanted are grouped together. Wimbledon and Wimbledon II are together. Tecmo World Cup '93 is grouped with Tengen World Cup Soccer and J League Soccer World Eleven for the Game Gear. Any other game is listed separately.

On the subject of Tecmo World Cup '93, it looks like it was released for the Game Gear as Tengen World Cup Soccer (there's no ROM available to confirm this). Development of that version is credited to SIMS. So now let's look at the staff that worked on TWC'93: "Nasubi," "Fumi," and "S. Kawa." Does this mean that Aladdin, Air Rescue, Master of Darkness, and Ninja Gaiden are SIMS games?

Aladdin Credits of Note

Etc Designer Manma
Music Composer Nasubi
Special Thanks to Enjyoh

Enjyoh is credited on at least one other "Group 1" SIMS candidate, but I do not remember what one.

- Interesting thing I found out. The Air Rescue credits give special thanks to Mikiyo Ohno, Azusa Senou, Erika Haneda, Rieko Miura and Maki Miyamae. It turns out these were members of some J-Pop girl group called Coco that was popular at the time (the credits also say "Presented by Coco since 1989").

As it turns out, Kick & Rush (Japanese Game Gear), Tecmo World Cup '93 (Master System), and Tengen World Cup Soccer (Overseas Game Gear) are all basically the same soccer game. Like I said before, development of the GG versions is credited to SIMS (not to mention there's the copyright, the "Presented by SIMS" credit, and the fact they published the Japanese version). That indicates that the SMS version is a SIMS game, naturally. Given the staff on these SIMS games, I have concluded that the following SMS games are also Sanritsu/SIMS games: Air Rescue, Disney's Aladdin, and Master of Darkness. I have gone so far as to submit that info to video game database site Video Game Rebirth (vgrebirth.org). This is the word of the Lord...

- If you look at the cover scans for the SMS versions of Bank Panic on this site, you'll see a copyright to Sanritsu Denki Co., Ltd. Doing a search, I found that there still was a company called Sanritsu Denki Co., Ltd. A Babelfish online translation of their company profile brings up the words "game equipment" and "software," but you probably know how online translators can be.

Later, I did a search at the U.S. Copyright Office site and up with one game, Bank Panic, came up with Sanritsu Denki as the "Author on Copyright Application" Two other games also came up, but with "Sanritsu Electronics Co., Ltd." as the "Claimant."

So are Sanritsu Denki and Sanritsu Electronics the same company? There's enough proof that SIMS was once Sanritsu (the Game Gear item numbers). Was SIMS the game division of Sanritsu (whichever Sanritsu that was as there's about 100 companies with that name in Japan) that at some point broke off?

- A search of the Famicom version of Alien Syndrome turns up the name Noboru Machida as the programmer. The game also has copyrights to Sunsoft and Sanritsu. Which one developed it?

Why do I bring up Machida-san? Well, according to SIMS' online company profile, Machida-san, who apparently had worked at Sega AM2, bought 70% of the company. Could Machida-san be "Machida" from George Foreman's KO Boxing? Or maybe he's Noburunrun or Noborin mentioned in several of the games above? Probably not...

- According to this, "denki" literally means "electricity". It can also mean "electric" and "electronics". So Sanritsu Electronics and Sanritsu Denki could very well be the same company. Hey, what are the chances that two companies named Sanritsu made video games and polarizers for use in liquid crystal display devices (see here and here).

- Now that we've established that Sanritsu Electronics and Sanritsu Denki were probably the same company, were "they" the same company as the home publisher that gave us Fantasy Zone Gear? Well, a flyer for a Sanritsu arcade mahjong game called Jantotsu (here) and the back cover of Fatman for the Japanese Mega Drive (published by Sanritsu) (here) have the same phone number, if that means anything. Also, some sites such as GameFAQs refer to Sanritsu Denki as the publisher of Fatman (MD) and Peppar Time (FC), both of which use the "Sanritsu" name and logo.

- Now we must establish if the Sanritsu Denki behind Bank Panic is the same as the Sanritsu Denki of today. I e-mailed an inquiry, but it was in English, so I probably won't get a reply. Even if it was in Japanese, I still probably wouldn't get one. But they make/made electronic products, so it's very likely. If that is the case, then "Sanritsu" did not become SIMS. SIMS somehow spun off or broke off from Sanritsu Denki. Perhaps SD decided to get out of the video game business and sold off their game division?

- I'm still wondering if Machida, programmer of George Foreman's KO Boxing, is the same guy as Noboru Machida, the programmer on NES/Famicom Alien Syndrome? Is it any coincidence that a Noboru Machida, of Sega apparently, owns 70% of SIMS (the top of their company outline actually implies he bought out the whole company)?

MORI and MORIMAN should be the same person.
MATSU, MATSUTOKUJO and MATU TOKUJYOU (Matsu Tokujô/まつとくじょう) likewise.
Same goes for KIMURON and KIMROM.
It might be that WAT and YANG WATT are the same, but it is not so obvious.

I think Cyborg Hunter is a Sega game. According to this page, "Judy Totoya" (aka Yasushi Yamaguchi) was the original designer of Tails for the Sonic games and worked on Sonic CD as a Special Stage designer.

The last set of credits is from Forgotten Worlds, right?

And thanks for the rest of the credits. What I posted were just certain "credits of note". I really should have posted the whole thing. Regardless, I think we can now safely say Tom & Jerry, Masters of Combat, and Putt & Putter are SIMS games. They crossed my mind, but I never bothered checking.

Don't know why I never posted these before. The game was mentioned in the R-Type by Compile thread. Here are the credits from Kikiippatsu Mayumi-chan, an arcade mahjong game published by Victory and developed by Sanritsu:

- Anyway, we have two new Sega "8-Bit" SIMS games. Not much detective work as they actually mention SIMS in the credits. Anyway, here's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (GG) and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (GG)...

- Beating Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (G/MD), I found that "K. Arai" is "Kengo Arai", not "Kou Arai".

- GREAT FIND! I took a swing by the Internet Archive to see if there were any old SIMS websites archived. I found one from 1998 (and one from later with an updated Saturn list) that has lists and pictures of their old Sega stuff, except the SMS (but they do have the GG). Unfortunately, there's more pictured than listed, and I can't make out everything in the pictures:

- Looking at the circa 1997-98 company profile, Noboru Machida was heading up the company, in addition to his duties at Sega. Actually, it seems all the major people at SIMS were also working at Sega. Sega, at the time, owned 100% of the company. I guess Machida-san bought back most, or all, of the company last year (see earlier post on Machida).

- Again, I ask for your help in identifying when the following games came out in 1991: Bonanza Brothers, Psychic World, G-LOC Air Battle. Remember that SIMS was established in 1991. Before that, it was part of Sanritsu. I need to properly credit these.

Sanritsu:
Game label/division for Japanese electrical firm Sanritsu-Denki Co., Ltd.

SIMS:
SIMS was established on June 12, 1991 as a joint venture of Sanritsu-Denki and Sega. About 50 employees came over from Sanritsu. Sega eventually bought out Sanritsu's share and made the company a subsidiary. That came to an end, however, when SIMS President Noboru Machida took over all the stock from the veteran game maker on June 25, 2004. SIMS stands for "Soft development Innovation Multi Success"

- Alien Syndrome
At least two presumable Sanritsu staffers are mentioned in the credits, Kin
(adviser) and Chicken Jun (one of three programmers)
- Cloud Master
- Double Hawk
- Mahjong Sengoku Jidai
Appears to be based on an adult arcade mahjong game from Sanritsu
called Mahjong Kyou Jidai. Shares some graphics with Alien Syndrome
(namely the Sega logo on the title screen).

* Determining the developer of many titles released in 1991 is slightly more difficult since SIMS was formed in June of that year. The best that can be done is look at the release date and figure out how long the game would have taken to develop. What is on the list currently may not be correct.

Information for this list was gathered from a number of sources: code, in-game credits, e-mails to various people, posting on various boards, Google searches, looking at graphics/listening to in-game music and using intuition, the current SIMS website, previous versions of the SIMS website at the Internet Archive, and the Developer Table website.

This list is not 100% guaranteed accurate. The extent of SIMS' involvement in some titles could be called into question. List is subject to change at any time without notice. The latest version can be found posted at the SMSPower.org Forums.

And one more comment...Shouldn't it be spelled "McDonald's", not "Mac Donald" (in reference to "Mac Donald: Ronald in the Magical World")?

You are right. This game is still one in line for proper naming.

The official Japanese name seems to be "Donald no Magical World" (no reference to Mc Donald's). But Sega's Segahard listing (note: which are sometimes incorrect, I suspect they got various info from the web in addition to their own data) says "McDonald - Donald no Magical World".

Now the confusing part is that although AFAIK the game was not released outside of Japan, it has an english title screen: "Ronald in the Magical World". I'm never sure how to handle those cases (at least in MEKA) with a known english title screen but no release.

Bock, do you happen to have any of the unreleased (on SMS Power) Game Gear ROMs (I think it's just the dodgeball game and two soccer games)? Would it be possible for you to just search them for credits (open it up in Notepad, search for "pro")? If you can't, that's fine. No big deal. I just thought I would ask.

As far as I know, the only unreleased in the list is Kick & Rush? I also have a Japanese build of Fred Couples Golf. I'll send you everything by e-mail.
(Honoo no Tokyuuji Dodge Danpei is already out.)

As far as I know, the only unreleased in the list is Kick & Rush? I also have a Japanese build of Fred Couples Golf. I'll send you everything by e-mail.
(Honoo no Tokyuuji Dodge Danpei is already out.)

Thanks a lot for your help.

I didn't realize "Honoo" was released. I couldn't find it. Another game I couldn't find was "J-League GG Pro Striker '94". Was that released?

Sanritsu - SIMS was formed in June 1991 as a joint venture between Sega and Sanritsu Denki. The last game released under the Sanritsu label was Fantasy Zone Gear.

SIMS - SIMS stands for "Soft development Innovation Multi Success". They did 30 or more Game Gear games, nearly 20% of the library. Sega eventually bought out the whole company, making it a subsidiary. That came to an end in 2004.

EDIT: It turns out G-LOC for the G/MD was by Probe. They were probably referring to the SMS version. That could be the case for Alien Storm, Bonanza Bros., and Shadow Dancer. So tentatively, they are off the list.

I fired off an e-mail to SIMS about their Sega games and got a rather quick reply.

Taro Nakagawa (Pitekan) wrote

Hello,
Thank you for your mail.
SIMS developed a lot of game software. However,
they are all the titles of Sega. Therefore, it is not possible to tell it.
(I don't understand well because there is no old developer at all in reality. )
I am sorry.Thank you.

I guess since they're Sega's games, they can't disclose them, even in an e-mail. And that "old developer" line must mean that the staff working at SIMS at the time no longer works there. Oh well, I tried...

If Body Slam/Dump Matsumoto (Arcade) was really done by Sanritsu, I have a strong suspicion that Alien Syndrome (Arcade) was also done by Sanritsu. Not only does there seem to be a strong resemblance in graphics and sound, but the service menu works the same. It might explain why they did the NES/FC and GG versions.

I thought Sanritsu-Denki, the video game company, and this Sanritsu-Denki were the same. But now that's in doubt. When sites refer to Sanritsu-Denki the game company, they use these characters - サンリツ電気. But at the "other" Sanritsu-Denki site, they spell their name with these characters - 三立電機株式会社.

I have also seen references to arcade games by 三立技研 (Sanritsu giken), which is also a company in engineering/manufacturing business.

Though there apparently is a "Sanritsu Giken," everything I've come across refers to Sanritsu Denki or, according to online translations, Sanritsu Electric (Babelfish says giken means "engineering and research"). And BTW, Sanritsu's game boxes also use "サンリツ電気".

In other news, I posted about arcade Alien Syndrome over at the System16.com Boards. Turns out it was done by Sanritsu, along with Sunsoft...